SACRAMENTO >> The Kelseyville Knights mounted several furious comebacks before dropping a 60-48 decision to Foothill High School in the first round of the NorCal Division IV girls basketball playoffs on Wednesday night in Sacramento.
Kelseyville (26-5) fell behind 8-0 but battled back to 18-12 by end the of the first quarter. The Knights got as close as 22-21 early in the second quarter before Foothill pulled away again to open up a 38-23 halftime lead.
The Knights trailed by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter before closing to 12 by game’s end.
“We never cut it to single digits but we kept chipping away. I never felt like the moment was too big for them,” Hale said of his players. “They understand what it takes to play in a game like this and they kept battling back.”
Alma Perez scored 15 points in her final game for the Knights and finishes her varsity career with 1,196 points, good for 19th place on Lake County’s all-time list of scoring leaders. Haleigh Meyer, another of Kelseyville’s seniors, finished with seven points as did sophomore Payton Conrad.
“It was good experience for our younger players to experience this,” Hale said. “Nine of our girls scored tonight.”
Kelseyville shared the North Central League I championship with Lower Lake this season, the second straight year the Knights have come away with a portion of the league title under Hale. They went 1-1 in the North Coast Section playoffs before receiving an at-large berth into the NorCals.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls,” Hale said. “You couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to coach.”
Added Hale, “To me this was a great season.”
Foothill (27-5), the Sac-Joaquin Section runner-up, advances to the NorCal quarterfinals on Saturday.
